Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow
by Ryoken
Summary: Pg for now. Okay, new chapter, woo. The warlords and lady find their target, but how will what they tell the Ronins change their view of Riko?
1. The New Girl in Town

Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow 

By Ryoken

_It was a dark and stormy night...ah, that's just cheesy. C'mon, you can come up with something better than that old line,_ thought Kento as he was trying to sit down and write his language writing assignment. The class had been assigned to write a short story at the beginning of the week and Kento had promised himself that instead of just blowing it off or writing something cheesy, that he would write something really cool. However, he hadn't promised himself not to procrastinate about it and it was beginning to get late. Out of no where, his frustrated face became quite serious as he began to quite write down what idea had come to his mind. _Children have good reason to be afraid of the dark. They don't know what lurks in the dark corner of their room or what monster is peering out at them from inside the closet. When they grow up, they grow out of that fear, with the knowledge that there are no such things as monsters, that they're "made up". Not real. But if they're made up, then why is it that when we think about it, they don't seem so unreal anymore? ..._

"Hey Kento, this actually isn't half as bad as I thought it would be," Rowen snickered as he finished reading Kento's five-page-long homework assignment.

Kento merely glared at him for a second, and then snatched it out the blue-haired boy's hand. "Ne, I can be creative when I feel like it!!"

Rowen merely shrugged and hopped off of the lunch table as the first bell rang. Kento and Cye walked to Kento's sixth period together, seeing as Cye's class was just down the hall from Kento's.

"Hope you get a good grade on it, Kento!" Cye said as he walked away from Kento, leaving him at the door to his language class. 

"Me too. I think I did a real good job on this one," he said, waving to his best bud as he entered the classroom and sat down.

Kento's language class teacher, Sensei Haun, wasn't one of the meanest teachers around, but she wasn't exactly one of the nicest either. When the last bell rang, Sensei Haun told the class to turn in their papers and, without even looking at the two who were trying to sneak into the class unnoticed, promptly told "the students who are now officially late to class" to go to lockout. Most of the students STILL wondered how she did that. 

Sensei Haun then began the lesson for that day, but Kento just couldn't concentrate. He really wanted to know how he did. Maybe, he thought, he could publish it or something and get loads of cash if his teacher thought it was an A-paper. Then his mind started to wander and daydream about what he'd do with a million dollars. At that moment, Sensei Haun gave them some class work to do while she began the long grading process of the assignment. Kento was so busy daydreaming that he didn't even know what the assignment was._ D'oh!_

He tapped the person next to him, a guy named Kilin, and asked "Eeto, what's the assignment?"

Kilin sighed. Kento was always asking him what they were doing. Why couldn't he ask someone else around him for a change? "We're supposed to be writing a Haiku poem."

"Ohhhhhh, arigato man," Kento said with a smile. Kilin sighed and smiled back. Well, at least he always thanks him, unlike some OTHER people he knew, who didn't even give him an acknowledging grunt in return for his information.

_A Haiku poem, huh? Er, hmm...I wonder what I should write about..._Kento thought to himself. But it seemed that he had a case of writer's block (we all know how that feels!) and he just couldn't think. Time flew by as Kento scratched his head worriedly and he looked at the clock. Five more minutes!? A whole hour had passed in what appeared to be a minute. _Okay Kento, time to get serious!_ And his writer's block was broken in half as he produced the Haiku within the time that was left. As the bell rang and the class began to file out into the hallway, Sensei Haun shouted to them that their papers would graded by tomorrow. Kento just couldn't wait that long. As soon as he packed up his things, he walked nervously over to the sensei's desk. 

"Uh, Sensei Haun? Could I ask you something?" He asked.

"Yes, Kento-Kun?"

"Have you...um...have you read my paper yet?" He asked eagerly.

"Iie, not yet. Why do you ask?"

"Oh. Well, I just tried really hard on it, and I kinda wanted to know what I got, butIguessthatcanwait, bye!" He said, hurrying to the door. As he went through the doorway, Sensei Haun raised an eyebrow and smiled. He was a nice enough kid, but Kento actually wanting to know what he got on an assignment? This was new. She searched through the pile of papers on her desk and found Kento's short story. It was much longer than she had expected and so, as her last period students began to go to their seats, she began reading it. _Children have good reason to be afraid of the dark..._

_Man what's wrong with me today? I haven't been that nervous since the last time I had to stand up in front of the class and give a timed presentation,_ Kento said, recalling how difficult it was just to say the lines on his note cards. _Ah well, maybe I'll just come after school and_- Kento stopped his thoughts. He couldn't believe what he was thinking. Him?! Staying after school, WILLINGLY?!!?!?!? Something really was the matter with him. _Maybe I'm getting sick or something...Or maybe I'm starting to catch Rowen's disease of studying? _ He then completely forgot as he finally saw Cye coming out his own classroom. "It's about time, dude!"

Kento had completely forgotten about the story as he arrived back at his house. His brothers and sister greeted him with the same eccentric hugging and toppling that they usually gave him and he went upstairs to his room. As the day passed, and Kento did his usual routine of homework, video games, and dinnertime, the thought of the short story he'd written drifted further and further from his mind, and in it's place came a strange feeling in his gut. It stayed with him even when he was in bed, trying to get to sleep. The feeling just kept growing and nagging on him until he realized what it was. _D'oh! I forgot to go and check on my paper! _Kento began to think about the plot of his proud "work of art" when sleep began to overwhelm his conscious mind.

R-R-I-I-N- CRASH!!!! as the blur of a hand knocked the alarm clock off the lamp table. _Uuuuuugh...damn alarm clocks..._ Kento thought. He groggily sat up and bent over to put the nuisance back in its usual spot. However, as he began to yawn, the scent of breakfast reached his ever-faithful nose.

Kento bounded down the stairs, now fully-dressed and ready for the day when a plate of pancakes was placed on the table by his mom. Excited even more than usual, he practically jumped over the back of the chair to sit down and dug in. Even though it was only Thursday, Kento was still excited because this weekend he and the guys were going to the lake for a camping trip. He had planned to get the school day over with ASAHP(as soon as humanly possible). Grabbing his backpack, he hurried out the door and quickly started his car as he headed for Cye's house.

"You're in an awfully cheerful mood today, Kento," Cye noticed on their way to school.

"Yeah, I know. I just can't wait until tomorrow, it's gonna be great!

"Here's your schedule. Are you sure that you'll be able to find your classes?" The lady at the front desk asked kindly.

"Yes, Ma'am, I'll be fine," said the girl in front of her. She hastened her step in order to leave that place. Once outside of the office, the girl looked at the paper in her hand, took a deep breath, and exhaled. She hoped the day would pass by quickly as her left index finger stiffened in pain again.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today. I hope you'll all make her feel welcome," said the old history teacher. Ryo looked up from his drawing. New student, eh? He watched silently as the teacher hurried over to the door and opened it. "Come in. Take whatever seat you'd like that's open," he said gently. That was a first. Ryo had never heard that teacher speak so...nicely to anybody, except maybe the principal. The girl that stepped in wasn't exactly gorgeous, but she wasn't ugly either. From where Ryo sat, he couldn't make out the color of her eyes, but she had dirty blonde hair that stopped at her shoulders and it was extremely wavy, but not curly. She nodded to the teacher, not smiling or frowning, and took the seat diagonally behind Ryo's right side. With this new person here, the class began talking extremely loud. Where was she from? What school had she gone to before theirs? Heck, what was her name? Wasn't the teacher going to have her introduce herself? However, no one seemed to ask her directly as the girl merely got out her notebook, opened it up to a blank piece of paper and seemed to wait for the teacher to give his lesson. Now that she was closer, he tried to determine the color of her eyes, but it was just impossible.

The old history teacher sighed as he noticed how engrossed his students were in this new event. He wasn't even going to TRY and calm them down. He remembered what had happened last time, and he wasn't exactly too keen on losing his voice again. His eyes went to glare at the new kid, whom he assumed would be talking to the other students and becoming the best friend of that popular girl, what's-her-face, but to his surprise, she was calmly waiting for him to quiet down the class and start the lesson. Weird kid, he thought, and he shrugged and returned to his book.

"Hey," Ryo said, trying to get her attention, but she didn't seem to know that she was being addressed. He said "hey" once more, this time a little louder, and she looked over at him, startled that this boy wanted to speak to her. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, and Ryo merely smiled his cheerful smile. "Desu Sanada Ryo. What's your name?" The class seemed to quite down a little as they wanted to hear what she would say.

"Sara...but my friends call me Riko," she said quietly, almost inaudibly. Her voice was like a wisp of air.

"Well, Riko, I wouldn't get your hopes up too high on taking notes today. Whenever something new happens, there's no way to calm this particular class down," he said with a bit of a chuckle. She smiled gently, almost...relieved. "So...where are you from?"

"Kariforunia." Riko said. At first, Ryo wasn't sure what she had said, but he then realized she had meant she was from California and was trying to say it in Japanese. She seemed to relax a bit.

"That's in the United States, right?"

She nodded.

"Cool. My friends and I went to New York once. Man, is that place big."

"Yeah, sure is."

"You been there?"

She nodded again, but this time kind of avoided his eyes.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Okay."

"What color are your eyes?"

"Has anyone seen Ryo yet?" Rowen asked as he approached the lunch table with Sage. Kento and Cye were already sitting down, eating their lunches. They shook their heads. None of them had seen him that day. Kento hoped that Ryo hadn't gotten sick. He'd have to miss out on all the fun that was going to happen that weekend.

"Ne, did anyone else hear about the new student?" Cye asked. "I heard from someone that she's from the US." The shook their heads again. They hadn't heard.

"Hey guys!" Came the familiar voice of their leader, but he was coming from a different entrance today. They looked behind them to see him stopped at the entrance to a different hall and he seemed to be trying to convince someone to come out. 

"They don't bite, no da," Ryo said so that his friends couldn't hear him. _Oh, come on, just get it over with, girlie_, she thought. She stepped out into the light. 

"Picking up chicks before the weekend, are we, Ryo??" Rowen asked. The girl seemed to turn bright red as the others laughed and she tried to hide her face .

"Very funny. Her name is Riko. Say hi," Ryo said. Riko mumbled what sounded like a konichiwa. "Riko, these are my friends Sage, Kento, Rowen, and Cye," said, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Say, you're that new student, aren't you?" The Britt asked. She nodded slowly towards him as Ryo and herself sat down.

"Yeah, she's from California," Ryo said for her. She was thankful for that. 

"Honto?" Said Kento. "Sweet! Maybe you could show us a few moves on a surf board sometime!" Riko blushed brighter. She hadn't a clue as to how to surf, it's wasn't like she had lived right next to the beach. 

The boy next to her seemed to whisper in her ear without the others noticing. "Try not to be so shy. You don't have to try to speak Japanese all the time either," he said. She looked to see the one they called Cye smiling gently towards her.

"Sorry," she whispered back. To him, she seemed a bit more relaxed now.

"Which part of California are you from?" The boy with blue hair asked. 

"Southern California."

"So she DOES talk!" Kento said, jokingly. She smiled. "You must surf a lot then!"

She laughed weakly. "Actually, I don't know the first thing about surfing," Riko said as she scratched her cheek. Kento seemed to be the only one who was surprised.

"NANIIIIIIIIII?! You come here all the way from California and you don't know how to surf?!!?" He said, standing up to stare at her in the face like she had said something that everyone else knew but him. She seemed to become more nervous with that action.

"Kento, take it easy on her!" Cye said. He put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't mind him, he can get extremely 'emotional' at times."

"I do not!!"

"Don't worry, they always act like this, but they've been best friends for a long time," Ryo told her. She seemed to notice that one of their members hadn't spoken a word yet: Sage. He just sat there, his one visible eye closed, and his arms crossed.

"That's the typical Sage for ya; the strong silent type," Kento said, noticing her gaze towards him. She blushed again, seeing that she'd been caught looking at him. "Heh, don't worry, every other girl has a crush on him, too!" At this, Sage opened his eyes and looked at her face. He seemed to try and focus his own eyes on hers, but couldn't figure something out.

"Riko," Sage said, for the first time that lunch period. "What color are your eyes?"

"Stick with me, Riko, and you'll do just fine," Kento said he led her to his classroom. They had the same language class together.

"Do that, and I can guarantee you won't be doing much better than him," Rowen teased.

"Urusei, Mr. Genius!" He snapped back. " 'Sides, don't you have class on the other side of school?"

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I can't crack a joke along the way, does it?" Kento grumbled. "Hey, Riko, you sure are quiet. Something wrong?" Rowen asked.

She looked up from her gaze. "Huh, no, I'm always quiet," she hurriedly.

"Uh huh..." He said thoughtfully. Riko and Kento reached their destination before Rowen could say anything more. "See you later, Riko. Don't be a stranger, you hear?" He said with a bad country accent.

He seemed have choked a mild laugh out of her as he walked to his own class. _Heh, there's hope for her yet_.

"Sara, you can take a seat behind Kento. I believe you're already acquainted with him, are you not?" Sensei Haun said. _Sara? I thought she said her name was Riko? _She nodded silently and took her seat. Then the teacher began handing back the assignments. When Kento received his own, he frowned. A +C??? How the heck could his hard work have earned him a +C??? He groaned and let his head fall noisily to the desk.

"What's wrong?" Riko asked quietly from behind.

He just handed her the paper and said "and I worked so hard on it too!"

Riko didn't even look at the grade as she read the first line to herself. _Children have good reason to be afraid of the dark..._ She shuddered a bit as a memory hit her and her heart skipped a few beats. She read another line. _But if they're made up, then why is it that when we think about it, they don't seem so unreal anymore? _

"Sara-Kun, would you like tell the class what seems to be much more interesting than my lesson?" Said the teacher. She hadn't even realized that Sensei Haun had began the lesson.

"Er, eeto, I, uh..."

"She's reading my short story assignment, Sensei Haun," the boy in front of her said.

"Well, if you would kindly put that out of her reach for now, Rei-Faun-Kun, we will continue with the lesson," she said as she watched Riko unwillingly give the story back to Kento.

Once Sensei Haun was beginning to get into her lesson again, Kento turned around quietly. "What dya think of it?"

"Well, I didn't really get to read much of it. Gomen," she said.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'll give it back to you after class," he answered, and turned back around. 

'_That story should be interesting to read,'_ she said in her mind. _That's what I wish I'd said anyway._

As soon as the bell rang, Riko immediately asked to see the story again.

"Whoa, aren't we the little boss?" Kento teased. She looked apologetic. She even bowed a little.

"I'm terribly sorry, please forgive my rudeness." She looked at the ground in...was that shame?

"Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about," Kento said, looking curiously at her. He gave her the paper. "Was just playing around, you know? A joke." She seemed to blush at that comment. _She sure is embarrassed a lot. Maybe she's not used to hanging out with guys?_ He changed the subject. "What class do you have next?"

She looked at her paper. "Pre-Calculus with Mr. uhh..."

He looked at the paper and instantly recognized the name. "Mr. Watsashi. Sage has him. From what I've heard, he's not a bad teacher." She seemed to blush at the mere mention of Sage's name. He grinned. This would be fun. "Hey, you really do have a crush on him, don't ya?"

"Iie, not at all! He just...reminds me of someone, that's all," she said, looking away from Kento and trying to figure out where the classroom would be. 

"Oh? Who? Someone you had a crush on back in Cali?"

"No. Just someone I know." She smiled. She smiled a real smile. She started walking off.

"Well...hey wait up! Cye and I'll show you where it is!" He offered.

"Okay." 

As they waited for Cye to exit the classroom, _why is it that he always seems to take so long? I'll have to ask him about that,_ Kento tried to find out more about this girl. She told him, when asked, that she had lived all of her life with her adopted parents in California, and that this was the first time she'd been out of the country. She'd always wanted to come and visit Japan, but never in a million years did she think that her parents would send her there to finish school. She was still sixteen, her birthday near the end of the school year, and she loved to play video games, to Kento's surprise. He wondered why it was that the silent types were the always the most interesting people. He was about to ask if she'd like to come over and play some with him sometime, but Cye came out and said that they should get going. 

"Geez, Cye, always interrupting people's private conversations!" Kento mocked.

"It's you who's always doing that, not me!" They began arguing when they noticed that Riko was no where in sight.

"Hey, where's Riko?" Kento wondered aloud. "Good going, Fish boy, now you've scared her off!"

"Me!?"

"C'mon, let's go find her before she runs into she-who-must-not-be-named," he said, scanning a hall.

"Maybe those Harry Potter books aren't so great for you to be reading after all..."

"Hey, it's not my fault my little sister loves those books! Come on!" He said, dragging Cye with him. _I just know I'm going to be late for class..._

"So YOU'RE the new girl, Sara isn't it?" came a rather snotty voice. Riko had been violently plucked from her two new friends and dragged into the girl's bathroom where she was now surrounded by a pack of girls. _Undoubtedly the popular bully girl's group of "friends"_, Riko thought. Finally, the girl stepped out where Riko could see her. She had black straight hair and her face was something that the boys of this school probably thought irresistible. Or most of them anyway, considering that Sage probably wasn't interested in ANY of the girls who had crushes on him. "I hear you're from California. From the reputation Californian girls have, you must be a pretty wild one." Riko knew what she was getting at.

"Actually I-"

"Did I say you could speak? No, I didn't think so." She said, rudely interrupting. "Anyway, I just wanted to inform you of a few...traditions around here. Unless you want to become one of my groupies, you will stay away from Sage. He's mine, and everyone in this school knows it. I've made sure of that." Riko resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew she'd get beat pretty bad if she did. Suddenly the bell that told students they had two minutes to get to class rang. "Looks like that will be the end of today's lesson, Sara. But don't be surprised if you find yourself in here again." The girls left after Little-Miss-Popular and Riko left quickly after. She still had no idea where her class was and that "girl" was going to make her late. She'd never been late to class without a note, and she didn't exactly flip at the idea of going to lockout. She hurried out to see the hallways almost empty and she grew quite worried. Picking a direction, she practically ran through the halls to find her class.

"I sure hope Riko got to class all right," Cye wondered out loud. All of a sudden, the last bell rang.

"Ahh don't worry about it. I'm sure she'll have found it," Kento said. They had their own math class together, Algebra II, and were getting their books out of their bags. 

"But-"

"Daijobu, Cye. She's a smart girl," he smiled reassuringly.

"Ahh, there you are! I was beginning to think that you shouldn't be showing up, Sara-Kun." Said Sensei Watsashi.

Riko was out of breath, but she had luckily went down the right hallway. She wasn't in a seat by the time the bell rang, but she was in the classroom. "My apologizes, Sensei." She panted. She had no idea how to pronounce his name like Kento did, so sensei was going to have to do for now. Over near the back row, she dreaded what she saw; it was that bully from the girl's bathroom, and she was having a fit trying to hide her laughter.

"No need, I'm sure it was difficult for you to find the room, seeing as it's your first day," he said. He looked at his seating chart. It was incredibly helpful sometimes. "Let's see, you can sit right there," he said, pointing at the empty desk in the middle of the classroom. Strange, she thought, that there would be an empty seat right in the middle of a classroom...Riko sat down gently and was relieved to finally sit down. The teacher had gone hurriedly into the lesson, leaving her no time to rest anymore as she got out some paper and pens. She hadn't even noticed where Sage was sitting. He sat one seat back from the front, in the second row from the right. She heard someone trying to get someone's attention by saying "pssssst" but she ignored it, knowing that it either wasn't for her or it was that damn girl probably trying to get her attention so as to make a threatening gesture at her. 

The person saying "pssssst" said it again, only louder. Again, Riko ignored it. "Deana-Kun, I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to interrupt my class." Sensei Watsashi said as he looked at the board. Only a few laughed. Riko guessed that was the bully's name and that she'd given a threatening glare to all of the students who laughed.

For the rest of the period, Riko did her best to pay attention and not look around. But seeing as that she was very tired from her first long day, plus the fact that she was suffering from jetlag, it was a difficult task to do. But finally, the last bell rang, and she could go find her next destination: the home where she was supposed to live. Tiredly, she walked out of the class, not even taking notice that Deana was right behind her, planning to trip her, and make everyone laugh at her. But fortunately for Riko, Sage was right behind Deana, and grabbed her attention from the poor girl. Riko never knew what had happened, and Sage wasn't about to let it slip that he'd helped her. He just wasn't the bragging kind of person.

She finally got outside when Kento came up to her. "Hey, you ok? You look beat."

She nodded. 

"Would you like me to drive you home?"

Now this was a first. Riko had never heard a guy ask if he could drive her home. 

"Gomen, but I've got a ride. Maybe some other time?"

"Sure! Jaa ne tomorrow!" He shouted from behind as he raced to what was apparently his car. "C'mon, Cye, you slowpoke!"

Cye, who was now beside her, sighed. "He really has no patience for anything." He said to no one in particular. "I'm coming, hold your horses, Kento!"

Riko smiled and started looking for the car that would hold the familiar face of the person whom she was staying with. She didn't find it. Frowning, Riko sat on the sidewalk and decided to wait. So she waited. And waited. And waited, until the sun was close to setting. By this time she was fighting to stay awake.

"Hey, what are you still doing here?" came a familiar voice. She looked up to see Ryo standing there.

"Well, I was waiting for my ride, but I don't know what to do. I've been waiting here for forever," she said, standing up. "Why are you still here?"

"Detention. I'll wait with you, if you like."

"I'd like that very much, but don't you have to go home?"

"Nah, my grandma doesn't mind, just so long as I'm home by dinner. Do you have the address of where you're staying?"

"Yes."

"Then if your ride's not here by the time the sun sets, I'll walk you home." Riko blushed deeply.

"Th-Thank you."

"No problem. The streets can be a little dangerous at night if you're by yourself."

So, leaning against the fence, they waited. Just as the sky began to turn dark, a blue Ford pick-up truck pulled up in front of them. An American-looking girl who must have been in her twenties or early thirties smiled and opened the door. "Sorry about the wait, Sara, I got caught up at work. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Ryo. Ryo, this is my distant cousin, Justine." They exchanged hellos.

"Hey, Ryo, why don't I give you a ride back to your house as a token of my thanks?"

"Naw, it isn't very far. I just live a few blocks down from the school."

Justine shrugged. "If you say so. Thanks again!"

"No problem." Ryo began walking to his house as the car pulled away.

Riko lay her head back on the seat to sleep, but it wasn't long before they reached the house where her cousin lived.

"Here we are, home sweet home." Justine said as she shut the truck door. Riko looked the house over. It was a small and cramped two story house and must have had an attic. Something about how the house loomed made Riko want to shiver. "I know it's not the best looking place in the world, but it's cozy." Justine showed Riko inside and showed her up to the attic. "I only have one bedroom in the entire house, so I'm afraid you'll have to stay up here. But you don't have to worry about any spiders or bugs, I keep this place pretty clean."

"It's fine." 

"You sure?"

"Yup."

"Okay then. Listen, I have to get back to work, but feel free to get something from the fridge or order some take out, there's some money on the kitchen counter. I won't be home until late, so feel free to do whatever," she hurriedly said as she went out the door.

Riko barely got out a "bye" as the door closed. Before Riko was about to do what homework she could without falling asleep, she decided she'd take a tour of the house. It was just like any regular old home, but the other upstairs rooms besides the master bedroom were art studios and video game rooms, etc. She made her way over to the rope that would give her entry to her room and pulled. Riko climbed the stairs to take a better look at her new room. There wasn't a speck of dust in sight and there was even a window that had window seat. She sat down, opened the window, and looked at the street below. There wasn't much going on. Just a dog barking from somewhere. She closed the window and sat on her bed, pulling out her homework. It took her a few hours and a break or two, but she was finally done, not with all the work she'd missed, it'd be impossible to do it all, but with that night's load. She wasn't tired anymore, so she decided to go down and watch some TV. By the time Justine came home, Riko was fast asleep on the couch, and Kento's story completely forgotten.

************************************************************************

In case you don't know what lockout is, it's where kids are sent if you're late to class without a note and you're counted as absent for that class.

Words that were used:

Ne-Hey

Sensei-teacher

Eeto-um

Iie-no

Desu- I am

Kariforunia- California

No da- you know

Konichiwa- hello

Honto-really

Nani-what

Urusei-shut up

Gomen- sorry

-Kun- suffix used for younger people

Daijobu- don't worry

Jaa ne- see you


	2. Riko's Bad Day

Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow

By Ryoken

Riko heard a voice trying to pull her from her subconscious. "Hey...Hey Sara, wake up or you'll be late for school!"

"Huh?" She said, opening her eyes a crack. It was Justine, trying to wake her up.

"Come on! Get up, lazy bones!" She responded, pulling her off of the couch. Riko landed with a heavy thud and a slight "oww..." "Do you actually WANT to be late?"

"No..." She got up and went upstairs to go to her room. When she pulled on the rope, a gust of cold air hit her face. That really woke her up, and she began to dread that this was going to be the coldest room in the house, just like when she was back in good ol' California.

She went up the stairs and noticed that the window was wide open. _Funny, I remember closing it last night. Should my memory serve me correctly, I even locked it_. Riko went over to close it, but it wouldn't shut all the way. She looked down to see that the lock was still engaged. "What the..." But she shrugged, not having time to contemplate how that had happened, and she quickly relocked it after completely shutting the window. She grabbed her things, which were now ice-cold, and headed for the front door. She tiredly climbed into the truck and slouched into a comfortable sleeping position. 

"Hey Riko, sorry you couldn't grab some chow before heading off to school," Justine apologized.

"That's ok, I've gone through worse, I'll live."

"I kinda have to work late today so I can't pick you up from school." Then Justine got an idea. "Maybe that bishounen could walk you home?" She teased.

"Justine..." Riko sighed. "That's all right, I think I can catch another ride."

"Oh? Is it going to be from some other cute boy?" But Riko didn't answer, for here they were at the gates of the school.

"Hey, look where we are, guess I'll see you later, buh-bye now!" Riko said before her guardian would make her talk. _Wow, she's even better about not knowing people and taking rides from them than my mom. Cool_, she thought. Even though her mind may have been working, her body wasn't. She was still tired, and falling asleep on that couch didn't exactly help. At least today was the last day before the weekend. Tomorrow she'd be able to sleep in and catch up on the many hours she'd missed on the plane.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the guys standing around a tree. Just for this morning, Riko was going to dodge them, she'd like a little peace before class. Just like the old days. _Funny, never thought I'd miss being alone_, she thought. 

When she had made it inside the school halls safely, she looked at the now-crumpled paper that held the number of her first period classroom. Unfortunately for her, as Riko turned a corner, she ran into the misfortune of running straight into Deana, head on.

"Oh, gomen!" Riko said apologetically, picking up her books and not noticing what horror she'd run into.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, you little-"

"Is there a problem here, redi-zu?" Came a gruff voice. Riko looked up to see the principal.

"Iie, Sama!" Deana quickly stated. The principal looked at her suspiciously. Deana gave him the biggest most fake smile Riko had ever seen in her life, but it worked, and he shrugged and walked away. Her stupid-looking smile vanished. In a low tone, she threatened "today, after school, you are soooooooo nai." Then she stormed off, her "friends" haughtily following her.

Riko sighed. "How do these things keep happening to me?"

Finally, Riko found her class, a few minutes left before the final bell would ring, and sat where her biology teacher told her to sit. As soon as she sat down, however, Cye came in through the door and sat down in front of her. _Figures I'd get first period with one of them. Ironic really because I won't be getting my little peace and quiet_. She silently sighed, and Cye turned around.

"Hey, where were you this morning?" He asked.

"Oh, I guess I didn't come in the way you guys did, sorry," she shyly said.

"Would you stop apologizing? People are going to walk all over you if you keep that attitude up."

"Would you rather I be a particularly mean and cruel black-haired girl who's name we shall not mention?" She asked slyly.

"No, but you don't have to say you're sorry for everything you don't get right," he said. She could already tell that he didn't like fighting and that he was trying to be nice in what he was saying.

Riko shrugged. "It's just..." she started to say. But she stopped herself. "I'll try harder to be not so nice then," she winked.

Cye laughed. "Good." Then he whispered. "Not exactly as exciting with an overly apologetic person around, wouldn't you agree?"

She made an attempt to laugh, but she was just too tired and it came out as a small giggle. So she settled on nodding. Then he looked serious.

"You don't look so good. You ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, that's all." Cye turned around as the final bell rang it's toll.

First period came and went. She soon discovered that in her next class, she had to deal with both Rowen AND Kento, who seemed to make up the class clowns when put together. The teacher must have been very weary of having to go through the same thing everyday, or any teacher for that matter. Seeing as the teacher was busy trying to settle down the class from Rowen and Kento's antics, and that her next class was art, Riko decided to draw. She didn't know what, maybe of Rowen and Kento being the class clowns as they were at this moment. They sure were an interesting duo. But her eyes decided to land on the poor figure of their teacher. She was slumped at her desk, her head in her arms. She seemed very distressed. Seeing as no one was really paying much attention, Riko got up and went around the classroom, considering that it was in the middle where the ruckus was going on and placed a gentle hand on the sensei's shoulder. The teacher, who's name was Sensei Kinchi, looked up. Riko was surprised. She looked very young and figured that she hadn't been teaching for very long and that she wasn't sure what she should do. She even almost seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"I don't know what to do. I'm about ready to give up this teaching career, start from scratch."

"Did you really want to become a teacher?"

"Oh yes, ever since I was in my seventh grade class. Everyone loved our history teacher, and I thought to myself that that's what I wanted. To have students who would enjoy my lessons and would love to keep coming back to my class everyday. But it's just so hard..."

"Do you really wish to give up all your hard work just because this particular class doesn't want to cooperate?"

"They're like this everyday. It's rare that I can calm them down and keep them that way so I can teach. I-"

"I think I can help. What you need is..."

"What the heck is SHE doing???" Kento asked from his seat. The teens were getting to be so rambunctious that some were jumping from the desk to desk. Rowen looked to where Kento pointed.

"I dunno. Maybe she was a teacher's pet back in America?"

"Hey, she's taking your job then! You'd better go get it back!!" Kento teased.

"My, what a brilliant insult."

"Urusei! Hey, what's going on?! Riko just shook hands with her!"

"So?" 

"Dude, she's coming back! Go ask her what she was doing by stealing your position!" Rowen stared at him like he was crazy. Suddenly, the teacher spoke up, thought it was hard to hear her over the noise.

"Class, can I have your attention please?" None heard or paid attention as Riko sat patiently in her seat and got into position to cover her ears. "I said, could you please turn your attention to the front of the class?" She said, raising her voice. No response. Then, in a loud voice that surely the classes next door heard, she yelled "WILL YOU ALL PLEASE BE QUIET?!!?!?!?" That got their attention as everyone covered their ears. They seemed to whimper a little and they sat quietly in their seats. "Gomen!" She said. She gave a slight nod to Riko and as Sensei Kinchi began to write on the board, everyone turned to face her, including Kento and Rowen, and glared. How could she take away the only class they could goof off in???

Riko groaned and hid her face in her arms. _Why the hell does this keep happening to me?! Now two of the only friends I've got are mad at me! Stupid Riko, bad Riko!_

The last bell rang for second period, and Riko was relieved. Even though she kept her head down, she knew that everyone was glaring at her with every chance they got. Once she didn't hear any more shuffling of feet, she raised her head, but was met with the angry faces of Kento and Rowen.

She knew what they were going to say and stopped them before they could say it. "Save it. Just save it and get in line with Deana and every other person in this world who wants to kill me, okay!?" Then she stormed out, jumping over desks as she went. Their angry faces were changed to overwhelmingly surprised.

"What just happened?" Sensei Kinchi asked from her desk. 

"I think she's mad at us," Kento said.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious for us, Kento," Rowen said. "Come on, let's go apologize."

"NANI?! After she-"

"She was just doing what she thought was right! And she did. Besides, if anyone's a jerk after that, it's us, and you know it."

_Hmm...perhaps I won't have to lecture or punish them after all_, Sensei Kinchi said to herself.

"Let's go and we'll both apologize to her at lunch, okay?"

He sighed. "Yeah, you're right," Kento said, not wanting to discuss the matter further. They walked out of the classroom.

Riko's next class was art. She hoped that nothing bad would happen here. It just wasn't her day today. Unfortunately as she went to take her seat, someone from behind her pulled her stool out from under her and she landed hard on the floor.

A rather soft voice said "you ok?" She looked up from rubbing her side to see Sage squatting down next to her.

"Yeah, I think so," Riko said, hearing the girl tricksters grumble as their plan backfired greatly. She glanced and noticed that it was a few of Deana's friends. Great. Didn't they ever leave her or Sage alone? She sighed heavily as she got up from the floor, placed her stool near the table, sat and laid her head on the table. Sage stood up, but otherwise didn't move.

"Why didn't you come over and talk to us this morning?"

Riko looked at him solemnly and she could tell that he had seen her trying to not look awkward as she snuck around to avoid them that morning. She blushed. "I...wasn't feeling too great. Fell asleep on the couch." It wasn't much of an answer, but Sage didn't press the matter. Instead, he changed the subject and asked the one question she was relieved to hear. "Having a bad day?"

Riko didn't know whether to hug him or exaggerate her answer to show how she felt. Considering the fact that Deana's goons were in the room and watching her extremely carefully, she didn't think it appropriate to do either. "Hai."

"Want to talk about it?" Now she was beginning to think he was psychic. It was getting to be weird, even for her, but she complied, nodded, and told him all about second period and Deana. When she finished, he was leaning on the edge of the table. "Feel better?"

"Hai, arigato." She realized something as he started to walk away to his own seat. "You don't like to talk much, do you?"

Sage stopped in his tracks and turned around slightly so that he could see her with his uncovered eye. "Let's just say I'm not much of a fan when it comes to talking to girls." Riko could've sworn she saw a slight smile on that face of his. The final bell rang as just sat down. 

The rest of her classes went smoothly as lunch time came around. Ryo and Riko came out the hall the Ryo was used to coming out of and she noticed Deana out of the corner of her eye, smirking and passing one finger across her throat at her. As the two sat down, Riko tried to sit as far away from Rowen and Kento as possible, and the five Ronins began to talk about a camping trip for this weekend. She kept as quiet as possible, as well as her growling stomach. Suddenly, a finger tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around to see a grim-looking Kento and a stern Rowen. Kento firmly grasped her shoulder and practically dragged out of her seat. As she was dragged away to a tree, she pleaded with her eyes towards the others to come and save her from her grisly fate, but, except for Sage, they didn't know what they were doing. She looked over towards him, but his eyes were shut. _Oh no, I am so gonna die. Well, at least Deana won't get a shot at me_, Riko thought. She saw Kento curl up his hand into a fist and she closed her eyes tightly, ready to embrace the punch.

"Kento, iie!! What the hell are you doing?!" She could hear from the table. She could then hear the thumping of feet running on the ground towards her. Riko also recognized the voice as belonging to Ryo. But strangely, when the fist was supposed to hit her, a very strong arm wrapped around her neck and a knuckle rubbed sharply on her scalp. She opened her eyes.

"OW, ITTAI, LEGGO!!!" Riko yelled, trying unsuccessfully to move around and get herself free. But the arm around her was too tight, too strong. She could just barely hear two people laughing and another one laughing closer to her. "Grrrrr, don't make me have to bite you, Kento!!" It was the first threat that came to mind. But it seemed to work as Kento released his headlock. She scampered away from them, rubbing her neck, but they only laughed more. She was very confused. This morning they looked like they were going to kill her, and now they were only playing around with her! "You know where I come from people usually beat the crap outta you, not give them noogies..." She said, rubbing her scalp.

Rowen's laughing was renewed, but he did his best to recompose himself. "We...We wanted to say sorry for earlier. Guess we were really big jerks, huh?" He said.

He noticed Kento was still laughing so he elbowed him rather sharply. Kento just growled at him, then turned to Riko.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Yurushi?" He said with a big smile. 

"Sure I do. But that really hurt, you know! You big meanie!"

"I think someone wants another!" Kento grinned evilly. 

Riko's eyes grew wide and she ran behind Ryo. "Ryo, help me!" Ryo laughed at the scene.

"Don't worry, I won't let the big bad 'meanie' get you," he said. 

"My hero," Riko said sarcastically. 

"Aww, c'mon on now, Riko. Where's your sense of fun??" Kento whined.

"Back in California along with my other stuff that has yet to arrive," she said from behind Ryo. For the first time, they all laughed, even Riko.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was now officially over and that students had ten minutes to get to class. As they went their separate ways, a bad feeling began to grow inside the pit of Riko's stomach.

Kento and Riko sat down and once the bell rang, Riko made sure that no one was looking at her, not even the teacher. She then searched through her backpack and pulled out a hard-bound, gothic-decorated journal. She placed it on her lap under the desk, where no one would be able to plainly see it and turned it to the one of the back pages. She placed one hand on her left index finger and began, in a voice so low it looked as though all she was doing was moving her lips, to chant something that not even the world's greatest lip reader would be able to decipher.

Kilin decided to take a glance behind him at the new girl. He saw that Riko was looking straight ahead, but didn't seem at all focused on what Sensei Haun was saying. It looked as thought there was a book hidden in her lap. He strained hard to hear what she was saying, but it was impossible. All of a sudden, she closed her eyes and she stopped chanting. As though she knew he had caught her, she quickly put the book away and started to take notes.

"Kilin-kun, I would appreciate it if you use your social time to stare at Riko-kun and not during my class," Sensei Haun said. She didn't even look at him because she was still writing on the board. He immediately turned around and hurried to catch up in his notes, but then Kento decided to turn around as well.

"Looks like someone's got an admirer!" He whispered, smirking. Riko blushed, but didn't meet his eyes.

"That goes for you too, Kento-Kun," she said. Kento cringed and turned back to his work. Riko again caught Kilin taking glances at her every so often.

After class, Kilin didn't bother to ask her what she had been doing. But that was because everyone was throwing Kento, Riko, and he, strange and suspicious looks. 

Kento noticed she was being more silent than usual as they waited for Cye. "Hey, you ok? If it's about what happened-" 

"No, no, it's nothing like that," she replied, laughing a little.

"Well, ijou."

"Eeto, Kento?" Riko said, suddenly remembering this morning.

"Hai?"

"Would it be at all possible for you to give me a ride home today?" She said shyly. 

"Aww, why'd you have to pick today of all days?! Right after school me and the guys are going camping!!" He cried.

"Oops, eheh, that's right. Yaso, never mind then."

Kento tried to get a good look at her face. He could tell she was still worried about something. "Maybe I could talk the guys into dropping you off on the way..."

"Oh, I wouldn't want you to do that on my account!!"

"Nah, it'd be no trouble. I'm sure they'd agree with me," he said, winking. She seemed to become her normal blushing self with that. "Well, speak of the devil!" He said, noticing Cye just coming out of the doorway. "Just the person I wanted to see!"

"Huh? Doushite?"

"Well, you see, Cye..." He said, whispering in his ear so that Riko couldn't hear. "What'dya think?"

"Are you sure it could fit another person? Plus with all that luggage..."

"Ah, she can handle it, right Riko??" 

"Eeto...I suppose I could..."

"Well, so long as she doesn't mind being uncomfortable, I don't have a problem with it."

"Yeeessssssssss!" Kento exclaimed with glee, jumping around like a child. Cye and Riko both sweat-dropped.

"But you should still ask the others!" Cye included quickly.

"Yeah, yeah...Hey c'mon you slowpokes!!" Kento said, racing towards his last class with excitement.

"Hey, wait up!! That Kento!!" Cye said as he tried to catch up. Riko half-heartily joined him, trying with all her might not to get too far away from Cye. The last thing she needed right now was Deana pulling her into the girl's bathroom again so she could have a private cat-fight session on her. 

Riko reached the doorway of her last class and there she was, talking with Sage, blocking the entrance._ Poor bastard,_ she thought. He looked like he really wanted her to go away, but she must have been blind at the time because she didn't pay any attention. _I am so gonna regret this_, she thought, gathering her courage, taking a deep breath, and walking straight up to them.

"So I said to her, like, 'you are such a freak!' and she was just totally-"

"Hey Deana, I'm guessing that you must have REALLY bad eyesight, right?"

Deana looked disgustedly at her as thought she was some ugly piece of trash. "Excuse me?"

"I said, that you must have EXTREMELY bad eyesight. Can't you, like, totally see that, like this poor guy's in, like, total pain from your scratchy voice?" She said in an really heavy valley girl accent. She was very good at impressions. Deana must have been surprised and speechless that someone stood up to her. Without knowing what to say, she angrily stormed off in a direction other than the classroom.

"I never would have thought that you had it in you," Sage said. 

"Had what in me? The ability to really really piss someone off?" She suggested.

"No. The ability to impersonate Deana so well," he whispered so no one else would hear. Riko laughed.

"Well, that's muh specialty!!" She said in a heavy country accent. They laughed and went inside. _She is a very strange girl. Still, best to be careful. _ He thought as he sat down.

"Hey, how'd your last period go, Riko?!" Came the familiar voice from behind her. It was Kento.

"Good, I guess."

"I'm surprised you're not dead yet!"

"What do you mean?" Cye asked.

"Weren't you listening to those girls in the back?" Kento asked as if it were a dumb question. Cye glared at him.

"No, I was focusing on what the teacher was saying."

"Well, in any case, they were talking about how Riko stood up and told Deana to lay off Sage!"

"Riko! I thought you'd be better behaved than to pull something like that!" Cye scolded.

She shrugged. "I think something of Kento's is rubbing off on me."

Cye glared at him. "Whaaaaaaaaaat?! I can't help it if she gets it from the master!!"

"Yeah, sure..." Sage just kept silent. "Hey, Sage, you were there, why don't you tell us what happened?" Cye suggested. Sage looked at him with a stern glance that told Cye to keep an eye out. 

They could see Rowen coming into view from down the hall, looking cheerful, but his face turned dark. He tried to yell something, but it didn't reach the warriors' ears until Riko had been pulled backwards from them. She landed with a thud and a shoe in her face that she tried to hold back with her hands. _Man, I'm getting weaker at this. I really need to practice on my strength_, she thought as she tried to hold the foot from stomping on her. But then she remembered she didn't have anything to eat yet. So she did the only thing she could to do to protect herself from Deana's foot of doom: dig her incredibly sharp and long fingernails into her exposed leg skin.

Deana's scream must have been heard all throughout the school because it seemed to echo down every hall, and it blocked out any other noises that were coming from the other halls. She fell down to sideways to Riko's right as she tried to stay off her left leg and stay balanced. Riko got off the floor as fast as possible, her backpack staying on the ground. Now there was a whole ring of people, who blocked out any who tried to get in. Even the Ronins were blocked. Riko now took a quick glance at her nails. There was a little blood and then refocused on her target, who was now getting up. She looked at her leg and her anger grew even more. This punk had already embarrassed her twice and now she was winning the fight?!? Who the hell did she think she was?!!? 

"You...You are so gonna pay for that!!" Deana shouted so that the whole school that had gathered around them could hear. This made the school 'narks'(the people who walk around and make sure kids aren't doing something bad or wandering aimlessly around school) try to get inside even faster, but to no avail. Even Kento was having a hard time trying to get in. 

Deana threw a punch straight for Riko's nose, but she put her arms up in an x-form for a block just in time. _Huh? What the-?_ The crowd cheered and booed. So Deana tried an uppercut. Riko just dodged it. _Wha, what's going on??_ Deana was very frustrated now and vented air. She just started to go for an all-out cat fight now, trying to pull out her hair and scratch her till she bled. But every hand she threw at her, Riko merely blocked. _What's happening??_ Finally, a bulky guy was able to hold Deana down-was that her name? Or was it something else?- long enough for another boy to pull her into the crowd. As soon as they got out, the boy pulled her outside with three others, one with strange blonde hair, one with long black hair, and another with short blue hair. 

One of them yelled "Come on, let's get outta here!" And the same boy kept dragging her until they reached a van. He practically pushed her in. There were many suitcases around. 

The boy who had dragged her around sat in the front passenger's seat. "Where's Kento?!" Kento? "Argh, he better not have gotten run over!" But the boy who had held that girl to stop her-what was her name again?- suddenly came into sight and hurriedly jumped into the driver's seat.

"Hold on!" He said, making the tires screech as he sped away.

Now far away from the school, the boy in front turned around, concerned. "Daijobu desu ka?"

Riko didn't understand. "What?"

"Are you hurt?"

She looked herself over. "No...I'm...ok." She said unsurely. He didn't seem convinced.

"Are you sure?"

Riko tilted her head a little and thoughtfully nodded her head, not making eye contact. One of the boys in back spoke up.

"Well, that was some adventure, eh kiddies?" They seemed to laugh, but Riko didn't see what was so fun about being dragged around. 

The boy that was driving, Kento his name was, eyed her and said "Where's your house?" She immediately got a piece of paper out from her pocket, though how she knew that was there, she didn't know. She gave it to him. He nodded and drove for a little while longer before stopping. "Here you are, Riko." Did he mean her? Was that her name? She stepped out and hurried up the stairs. She didn't know why she hurried. She thought it was because everything was going so fast. She opened the door with her keys and as she took one step into that unfamiliar house, everything around her went dark with a thud.

************************************************************************

Words that were used:

Bishounen-handsome boy

Gomen- I'm sorry

Redi-zu -ladies

Nai- dead

Sensei- teacher

Nani- what

Urusei-shut up

Hai- yes

Arigato-thank you

Iie-no

Ittai- ow/ouch

Yurushi-forgiveness

Ijou- something wrong

Eeto-um

Yoso- oh well(I give up)

Doushite- why?

Daijobu deso ka?- Are you all right?

Sama-suffix for high ranking


	3. Riko's Bad Day part II

Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow

By Ryoken

"Ne, I think she's waking up!"

"You said that five minutes ago, Kento!"

"No, seriously, I'm sure this time!"

"Maybe someone else should take over..."

"Cye, I'm being serious!"

Footsteps.

"Ne, you're right. She does seem to be more awake. Hey, Riko, Riko wake up."

Still darkness.

"Riko...Riko...Rco...Rco, dear, please, wake up. Please."

"I don't...think she's able to hear us anymore."

"No, she can't be-"

"Mom...Mother, please don't cry..."

"Riko?" Riko suddenly opened her eyes and took a gasp of breath to see the gang hanging worriedly around her. "Are you ok?"

"Kento...?" She said weakly.

"The one and only!" He had that stupid grin on his face again. But she was glad to see it, and him. But she was also starting to get a headache.

"Ow...What happened?" Riko asked, gently rubbing her temples.

"You passed out," Rowen said.

"I...I passed...?" Riko seemed to still be adjusting and unable to think clearly.

"Who were you talking about just now?" Kento said, being nosy.

"Talk...ing...?"

"Yeah, you said 'Mother, please don't cry'." He only appeared to be concerned.

"I...heard my mom...and someone else...They were talking about me, trying to get me to wake up, but the man said that I wasn't able to hear them anymore. She sounded...like she was gonna cry, you know?"

"You gonna be okay?" He asked.

"Yeah...Yes, I think so." Riko didn't make any eye contact. _So...that must be...what my mom sounds like..._

"You sure?"

"Hai." She nodded and smiled at him. "I'm okay."

The Ronin smiled and, though perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas, decided to leave her. They still had a camping trip to take.

As they piled out of the house and into the van, Riko leaned in the doorway and stared at the ground. She never noticed them waving to her.

"You know, she doesn't look very stable...maybe one of us should've stayed with her?" Rowen suggested, looking back at her.

"Hey Sage, care to enlighten us with your thoughts on the subject?" Cye asked. He'd been quiet the whole time. But now that he had been brought up in the conversation, he didn't have much choice in staying quiet.

"I don't know."

"That's it? She just got into a fight, passed out, and now doesn't seem herself and all you have to say is 'I don't know'?!?!?" Kento argued.

Sage sighed. "How do you even know that she's not herself, Kento? You haven't even known her for a week. Unless, of course, you DO know her and aren't telling us?"

"No, I don't know her! But..."

"I understand what you mean, but even I wouldn't know what to do if even all of us stayed with her. It isn't like there's much we could do for her."

"We could take her to the hospital," he suggested. "Hey, maybe your mom would know what's wrong!"

"I doubt it. She doesn't specialize in 'mental' wounds." Sage pointed out.

"Um, guys? I hate to break up this intriguing conversation, but she's still there," Rowen said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's still leaning in her doorway."

"Wha???" Sure enough, as they realized, Kento had absent-mindedly pulled over to discuss the matter of what to do and she was still in the doorway.

"This is starting to get a little creepy. What's she doing?!" Kento said, looking in the side mirror.

"That's it, lemme out," Rowen ordered. Ryo moved out of his way and Rowen started to walk hastily down the street towards her house. They all watched in anticipation as Rowen went up the front steps.

"Riko? You haven't gone and blacked out on us again, have you?" He said, waving a hand in front of her face. That seemed to do the trick.

"Ah! Oh Rowen, it's you." She said, snapping out of her trance and putting a hand to her chest in fright.

"What were you doing? You've been standing there for five minutes."

"Thinking. Has it really been five minutes?"

"Uh, yeah," Rowen said as though it were a dumb question. He looked into her unidentifiable eyes and realized something. "You never told us what color your eyes are."

"Huh?" Riko was lost in thought again.

"I said, you never told us what color eyes you have."

"Oh..." She remained mute.

"Well, aren't you gonna tell me?"

The rest of the warriors watched Rowen as he talked to her and she finally went inside and closed the door. He jogged back to the car and Ryo let him in.

"Well?" Kento said. Rowen hastily got into his seat and put on his seat belt.

"Her eyes are green, blue and gray."

"What's that got to do with anything!?!" Kento yelled. Sage seemed interested.

"She told you?"

"Yes, she did. Can we go?"

"No, we can not go! What's wrong with her!?" Kento said.

"Kento, just drive already," Cye said to him, noticing something about Rowen's voice.

"Grrrrr, why is it that nobody ever tells me anything!!!!!!!" He said grumpily as he started the car.

Riko sat on the couch and began to realize that she hadn't had a thing to eat. Remembering that she still had the money from yesterday, she went out to go downtown and find a nice restaurant. Having no mode of transportation, she grabbed her favorite black sweater, one gray dragon on the front, another huge red one on the back, and set off for a walk to the city.

She passed a dark alley where she felt she was being watched and she shivered. But that was something she was all too familiar with. Out of habit, she started to hurry her pace, but the feeling followed suite. Across the upcoming street she saw a resutoran, she didn't pay any attention to the sign, and ran to the end of the sidewalk, safely across the street, almost being run over twice in the process, and opened the door. The feeling weakened as she noted that the person must have felt defeat, and then was gone. As Riko looked around, she found that it was a Hanten, and thought how few these must be in a Japanese city. It was extremely empty, with only a few customers, though the place seemed nice enough. A woman with familiar looking dark blue hair walked up to her, an also familiar smile on her face. She reminded her of someone...

"Konichiwa, dear. Go ahead and choose where you'd like to sit. You're lucky you came in at this particular time, we're not as busy today," she said. Riko choose a booth near the window and the woman gave her a menu.

"Arigato," Riko said softly with a smile of her own. The woman seemed to look at her strangely as she caught a glimpse of her eyes.

"Sumimasen, but what's your name, dear?" Riko deemed her trustworthy, considering how familiar she seemed.

"Riko."

"I knew it!!" She exclaimed. Riko jumped in her seat. This onna knew her?! "You're the girl my boy Kento has been telling me about, aren't you!?" Riko nodded slowly. "I knew it once I saw those beautiful eyes of yours. Kento's told me all about you." Riko was getting nervous and started to blush profusely from embarrassment as she sat down across from her. "Oh, how rude of me! I'm Kento's mother."

"Oh!" Now it all made sense. That hair and that smile, who else could it be? _What a coincidence_, Riko thought.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Riko. Did Kento tell you about this place?"

"No, actually I just saw it and it looked nice enough so here I am," she said with a weak laugh.

"Well, I'm glad you came. What'll you have?"

"Eeto, I'll have an order of show mien, kudasai," she said with a different smile.

"And so polite too! I'll be right back," She said, getting up and turning on her heel. Although Riko did like this woman, she really wanted to be by herself think. She looked around outside and saw a little boy on a skateboard and a red-haired young onna chasing after him.

"Ahh, that's Mia and Yulie, some more of Kento's friends. You'll meet them soon enough I imagine," Rei-Faun-San said. "It'll be ready in a bit." As she sat down, Riko noticed how tired she looked. She must work a lot. "Speaking of friends, has Ryo told you about his, er, pet?" Riko shook her head. "Well, if you're ever in his neighborhood, keep an eye out for him. He may be friendly, but he'll push you over if he's too excited," she said with a laugh.

"I will, but what is it? So I know what to look for," she added.

"Don't worry, you'll know when you see him. Ah, what would be your food," she said as they heard a DING from the kitchen. "I don't usually use a timer, but I wanted to chat with you." 

Riko looked out the window again and saw Mia and Yulie again, crossing the street. _Speak of the devils_, she thought. As she was watching, Re-Faun-San had brought her food and saw that the two were coming as well. Well, speak of the devils, eh? Would you like me to introduce you to them?"

"Iie, no thank you. Perhaps another day," she replied, praising herself for knowing what Rei-Faun-San was going to say.

"Ok then," she said as she waved to Mia through the window. Mia waved back, as well as Yulie. She left to go to the door and speak with them as they walked in and Riko returned to look out the window as she calmly ate her food. It was the best she'd ever had. 

She stared at the people and cars that passed by and closed her eyes, losing herself in her thoughts._ They all take for granted the freedom they have. They don't even know they HAVE this freedom,_ she thought. Then she smiled as she quoted what a wise person had once said. _"But no, I do not hate them"._ Her spirits lifted at that thought and she finished her meal. 

When she had finished and tried to pay Rei-Faun-San, she refused. "Today's on the house. It's always so refreshing to meet such nice and polite people, especially if they're friends of my son."

"Rei-Faun-San, you drive a hard bargain," She said.

"I insist. You just come back again some time, I'd like to talk to you some more," she said kindly. Riko promised she would as she bowed in respect and left.

"Who was that?" Mia asked as Rei-Faun-San came to the table.

"That was one of Kento's new friends. So polite."

"Well, why didn't you introduce us?" Mia teased. Yulie didn't pay any attention.

"To be honest, I don't exactly know much about her," she said.

"Ah, I understand," and, to Yulie's delight, they placed their orders.

Riko started to walk around aimlessly towards downtown, wishing to "see the sights", and she began to also wish that someone was with her that knew their way around. For someone who was good at remembering their way around, she was confused about where she was. Finally, she came upon a large bridge that was next to two huge whirlpools. Something seemed to draw her to those whirlpools and she began to walk across the bridge. As she reached a place where she could clearly see them, she stared in awe as she became energetic, almost ready to jump into the whirlpools herself. But she knew she'd perish in the power of that churning water.

"Tourists," someone said from behind her. She looked behind her, but saw no one and she guessed it had to be someone in a car. The traffic was awful. Riko shrugged and returned to staring at the whirlpools.

"Why don't you take a closer look, mesuinu!!" A familiar voice said from behind. Riko turned to just barely see Deana's face before she was pushed off the bridge with a scream.

_Shimatta!!! How is it that I keep getting into these things!? Guess I should've stayed home today!!!_ Riko thought as she hung onto the piece of iron for dear life with one hand. The wind and the recent momentum flung her body around like a doll, making it difficult to hang on. She was about to lose her grip on the beam when a strong hand grabbed her wrist and said "Gotcha!!!" _What!? No way!! I thought they were going camping?!?!_ She thought as the all-too familiar voice from above began to slowly pull her up.

Riko laughed a little. "We've gotta stop meeting like this. This is the second time you guys have saved my lousy ass." The person above her returned the laugh.

"You're just lucky we got stuck in traffic," Cye said from above her. Kento finally got Riko to the point where she could go over the railing and back to safety. 

_Why is it that they're always around right when I need it most?_ She joked in her thoughts. "Thanks, Kento." He didn't answer in words as he suddenly lugged her over his shoulder. "Waaaaaaah!! Hey!!! Put me down!! Leggo!! Cye!! Help!! What the heck is he doing?!!?" But he could only shrug as his best friend walked over to the van.

"Kento, what are you-oof!!!" Ryo started to say as Kento tossed her into the van into Ryo.

"What the heck are you doing???" Sage asked from the back. 

"Why, isn't it obvious?! He can't stand to be away from her for so long!!" Rowen teased, remembering the odd rumor he'd heard before leaving school.

"That's not it." He said calmly. "If she'd gonna get into trouble, she's gotta do it with us around."

"You wouldn't...Kento, you're not bringing me with you on your camping trip, are you??" Riko said, realizing what he meant.

"Kento, you can't!! She doesn't even have any equipment!" Cye argued.

"Sure I can! She can have my stuff," he argued back.

"Kento, if you don't let me outta here, I'll have to report this to your mother!!" Riko threatened.

"But you don't know-"

"Oh yes I do!! I just met her his afternoon, you know. And I also met Mia AND Yulie. I could tell them too." Although that part was a lie.

Kento's eye widened at the thought of what Mia would do to him if she found out. "Fine." He sighed. He stopped the car and she got out as fast as possible. Ryo shut the door and she waved to them in a (hopefully) last goodbye. 

"I'm starting to believe Rowen was right, Kento," Ryo said.

"I don't have no stinkin' crush on her, okay?!!?" He yelled. 

"Okay, okay, don't have to be so loud about it," Cye said, rubbing his ear.

"Gomen, Cye." 

"But really, why did you go and do that?" Cye whispered as he turned on the music to cover for him.

"I dunno...Something just came over me...Like I wanted to protect her from something," Kento said, trying to recall what had come over him himself.

"Think it was the armor?" He asked.

"Could be, Cye."

"Hey, what are you two talking about?!!?" Rowen asked. "I can't hear you from back here!"

"Nanimonai, Rowen," Kento said quickly. "Nanimonai..."

Riko walked cautiously back to the other side of the bridge, making sure she didn't run into Deana again. How had she found her here? Was it just one of her look-a-like friends, or was it the real her? Was it even who she thought it had been? She pulled herself from her thoughts so she could focus on what was important. Knowing that she might possibly be followed by Deana or one of her friends so that they could do whatever they wanted to her when she fell asleep at home, Riko used what "skills" she knew to keep her in hiding and took back alleys and such to get home. Strangely, she knew exactly where to go as she recognized the Rei-Faun Restaurant from earlier. She took a short glance, but didn't see Rei-Faun-San inside. Hurrying now, she went down the same street and ran into the house as quickly as she could as she unlocked the front door.

She relocked the door, and then went to make sure all the windows were locked too. But when she came to her own window, it was wide open again. As Riko stood the top of the stairs to the attic, she began to feel dread swell up in her again. It took all of her courage to look out the window to see if it was possible to climb up. To her relief, below her window was a complete wall, with no pipes or any footholds to climb up with. But then she started to worry again. Was there...was there a burglar in the house? Riko had checked all the rooms with windows, but that didn't mean the burglar, if there was one, wasn't hiding. Quickly, Riko checked all around her room and locked herself in. The least she could do was protect herself if she couldn't protect the belongings. Feeling a little better, Riko laid on the floor to see if she could hear anyone walking around. She still wasn't very relieved when nothing came. _Why do these things keep happening to me? First I fight with Deana, then I don't remember how I got home, I go out to eat only to feel I'm being followed, I get pushed off a bridge, Kento tries to kidnap me, and now this! What a day!_ She thought, sighing. After reviewing her day, she felt she was tired, but she was too afraid to go to sleep. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the front door. She could faintly make out the words the person said: "Hello? Is anybody home? I have some packages for a Sara-kun." _Shimatta! Why did my stuff have to come right now?!_ Riko sighed again. There were two options: one, she could just stay there was wait for him to leave the stuff on the porch, but Deana might find the stuff, recognize the name, and steal it all or ruin it, or two, she could go down there and get it and hope that either there was no thief or that she didn't get killed by him. She didn't want all her precious memories to get stolen and put in Deana's damn room or broken so she decided to go down there. Hurrying, Riko opened the door a crack and it was the real guy. She also noticed there was no one else around, or so she hoped. 

"Are you Sara-kun?" he asked nicely.

"Desu Sara-kun." She said, trying her best to smile.

"I have your things right here, Miss. My apologies for it being late," he said with a small bow.

"Nanimo desu."

"Just sign here." Riko signed it and he signaled for two other men to bring in the packages which held her things. They were in about five large boxes, and Riko showed them where to put them. After a few minutes, their jobs were done and she thanked them. Riko locked the front door again and ran up to her room. She shut the door and searched her room. When she found nothing, she locked the door and smiled. Well, at least this would give her something to keep her mind off of the days events. 

She opened the first box and took out some of her more sentimentally valuable items: a few books and her large jewelry box. Riko had no jewelry that was incredibly valuable or worthy of stealing and selling. It was all "sentimental" things. She placed the books and box on the large dresser near her bed. 

The next box she opened said "fragile" all over it and she opened it to find her plants inside. She first took out her favorite, Dittany of Crete, and made sure it was okay. It was one of the more rare plants that she owned. It was just as she had last seen it and she placed it on her shelf with the other books. She made sure her other plants were all right, but didn't take them out. There was no real place to put them yet. 

The next one she opened was very large and also had the word "Fragile" on it. She smiled as if it were Christmas and opened it to find all of her dragons inside. Not real ones, of course, merely posters in frames, little statuettes made of glass, plastic and some other substances she didn't know, stuffed toys, paper ones, a dragon snow globe, lamp, and a plate that had a dragon sculpted on it. 

She would place them all later once she setup what was in the next box: her computer and her new computer desk. Her parents had agreed to buy her a new one since the older one had been glued together along with screws and the like and it would have been difficult to put together again. The new one was about the same size, but Riko was good at putting things together. She wouldn't put the desk together now, of course; it was a two-person job. Maybe when Justine got home they could put it together; or if not, maybe one of the guys would help out when they got back from the trip. Riko didn't take anything out of that box.

The last two boxes contained just most of her clothes, shoes, and a few other things she wanted to take along: some other figurines of unicorns and cats and pictures and other essentials that couldn't be re-bought. 

Riko had finished placing some of the larger dragon items on the shelves when she heard a car outside and someone with keys unlock the door and come in. 

"Sara, I'm home. Are you here?" Riko was relieved to hear Justine's voice and not be alone. She unlocked the door and hurried down stairs where she gave her a big hug. "Well this is certainly a different attitude than this morning." She smiled.

"Eeto, Justine?" Riko whispered.

"Nani?" She whispered back.

"I think someone's in the house. My window was open when I got back from a restaurant," Riko lied. She didn't want to worry Justine with what had happened on the bridge.

"I see." Justine looked very serious, but calm too. "Follow me to the kitchen, I've got something in there for just such an emergency." She did as she was ordered to do, and Justine took out a revolver from a drawer. Justine took Riko's hand and together they searched the entire house only to find that everything was where it was left and there was no one in the house except for them. Relieved now, the two of them headed for the kitchen and Justine put the gun away. "Well, no burglar. Where were you all that time?"

"In my room, putting my things away. They came while you were gone."

"Oh goodie! Now I get to see your stuff!" Justine exclaimed. _She acts like a teenager, but I'm glad she does,_ Riko thought. She raced Justine up the stairs and when they got there, Justine was in awe. "Wow, look at all this dragon stuff!" She said, going over to the poster of a map with dragons all over it. "I've never seen so much of it in one place before!"

"Yeah. Hey, Justine, could you help me put my computer desk together? It's a two-person job," Riko asked.

"I'd love to! Sides, even with all the stuff I have, I don't have a computer." She said.

"Don't expect much out of it. It gets moody," Riko laughed.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I've got to get it fixed someday when I get the money," she said. 

"I see. Well, what do we need?"

"Well, some glue and a screwdriver," Riko replied, looking at the directions.

"Okay, be right back," Justine said as she took her time going the stairs. 

As the two worked together, the time seemed to slip away as they got to know each other better. It was one in the morning when they were finished with it and the computer. Justine didn't seem to be the handywoman-type like Riko was.

"We should get to bed, it's late," Justine said, looking at her watch.

"Yeah, I'm game."

"See you in the morning then, Riko."

"Jaa ne," Riko said as she almost fell instantly asleep when she climbed into bed.

"Grr...Light, you baka!!!" Kento yelled as he tried to light the fire.

"Hurting the log's feelings won't get you anywhere, Kento," Rowen taunted as he came back to camp.

"Urusei!" 

Rowen shrugged and cringed as a drop of water hit his head. 

"NOOOOOOO, now I'll never get this thing to light!!" Kento cried as more drops fell from the sky.

"Ne, I know! Let the pyro try," Rowen said.

"Good idea! If he can't get it to light, nobody can," Kento said as Rowen went to fetch Ryo.

_No one, huh?_ A certain someone thought. He grinned slightly as he summoned a thunderbolt from the sky to hit the logs and ignite the fire. The three Ronins were confused when they saw the fire lit as they came back. That was his small deed of fun for the day.

"Hey, Sage, I thought we weren't going to be using our armors for this weekend?" The Britt behind him said.

"What can I say, Cye? I can't help it if I enjoy proving certain people wrong," Sage said with a sly grin. Cye only returned the grin and shook his head as he went to prepare dinner in the rain.

************************************************************************Words that were used: 

Ne- Okay/Hey

Hai- Yes

Resutoran-restaurant

Hanten-Chinese restaurant

Konichiwa-Hello/welcome

Arigato-thank you

Sumimasen- excuse me/pardon me

Onna-woman

Eeto-Um/uh

-San - suffix used to express Mr./Mrs./etc 

Iie-no

Masuinu-bitch

Shimatta-damn it!

Gomen-I'm sorry

Nanimonai- nothing

-Kun -suffix used for young adults or younger people

Desu-I am

Nanimo desu-It's nothing

Nani-what

Jaa ne-See you

Baka-idiot/stupid

Urusei-shut up/noisy


	4. Riko meets the ExWarlords and lady

Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow

By Ryoken

Riko woke with a start and quickly put her hand to cover her throat. She had had a bit of a nightmare just before now and was glad she was awake. She looked at the window, but daylight was just barely being born. She looked at her clock and it told her that it was 6:40A.M. Riko fell back on her pillow and sighed. She had hoped that she would sleep in, but after what she had just seen, she didn't really want to.

In her dream, Riko was in a large open field. It was breathtaking because she'd never seen such an open field before. On either side of the field was the beginning of a thick forest. She had heard the noise of swords clanking together and when she looked to her left, she saw a huge army fighting another army. The sky had turned back, even though it was still daytime, and this huge shadow seemed to grow bigger and bigger, which must have been the cause for why the sun was being blocked out. Riko had instantly known who the shadow was, but strangely couldn't place a name on it now. The army that had their backs to the field were fighting an army of shadows, and they were losing fast. One of the shadows broke through the barrier of the army and started coming after her. She had turned around to run, but her path was blocked by the shadow who was blocking out the sun. Before she had the chance to run elsewhere, the shadow had pierced her through her neck with it's weapon. She could feel her blood filling her lungs and she felt how it was to die in such a way before she had awoken.

"Note to self: make sure that's not how I die," Riko joked to herself. "I wonder what the boys are doing right now?" She wondered.

"Ittai! Rowen, get your stinkin' foot outta my face!!" Kento roared. But it did no good. That Rowen could sleep through apocalypse if it occurred in their lifetime. It was a rude wakeup call for poor Kento, and he wondered how Rowen could have ended up on the other side of the tent. There were stranger things that could've happened, he knew. Now that he was up, he had no desire to try and go back to sleep what with the eagle-spread boy now taking up most of the room. _Now why couldn't I have been partnered up with Cye?!?_ He thought. But then he remembered choosing the same stick length as Rowen. The first thing he saw as he stumbled out of the tent was Sage sitting cross-legged near the lake. _Figures he'd be up this early meditating,_ Kento thought as he rubbed his eyes. The rain had stopped in the night, but the ground was only damp and not muddy, to Kento's relief. Maybe their weekend wasn't spoiled after all. 

"Up so early?" Came the familiar British accent.

"Yeah, thanks to Rowen's foot," he said.

"What a way to wake up," Cye said, returning the laugh. Cye was an early-riser too, but not as early as Sage was. He seemed to get up as soon as light entered the sky. "Was he up reading again?"

"I dunno, I fell asleep way before he did," Kento said. Cye nodded in understanding. "So, what are we going to do today?"

Now that Riko's computer and desk were all set up(though they would have to install a phone-jack in the attic sometime in order to use the internet), she could put away the rest of her dragon statuettes. However, it was way too early in the morning for Riko to be doing that so she went downstairs to see if there were any good Doyobi morning cartoons on in Japan. She looked at the TV guide, but it was mostly in Japanese characters, which Riko had yet to figure out. _Looks like I'm gonna have to channel surf_, she said, turning on the TV. It took her only fifteen minutes to go through them all, but there wasn't anything really interesting on. The Japanese speakers on television spoke incredibly fast, _just like Mexican TV,_ so she couldn't understand what they said anyway. She turned it off to go to the second floor and see what games Justine had to play. _Glad my mom packed my memory cards and my own games..._

It was another hour or so before Justine woke up to the sound of a girl yelling "Ya!" and a creature yelling "Chu!!" "What the hell...?" Justine got up tiredly and put on a robe before coming out of her room. She found Riko playing Super Smash Bros Melee where Zelda was kicking the makai out of Pikachu. She sighed and left Riko to her own devices and went back to bed, shutting the door. 

As the fight progressed, however, Riko became bored and an idea popped out of her head. She turned off the Cube and hurried upstairs to her room. She had to look for a while, but she found the game she was looking for. She plugged in the first disk of Final Fantasy VII and when the game came to the point where you decide what Cloud's name would be, she input the name Kento...

It was a good two hours before Justine got up again. This time she stayed up and got dressed. She went to look in on Riko, who was in front of the TV with a different game. On the screen was a black man with a machine gun on his arm, a girl with extremely long hair, and a another guy with weird blonde hair. They were climbing stairs.

"'Ryo: Are we there yet?' Hey, isn't that the name of that bishounen the other day?" She said from behind. Riko blushed.

"No, of course not, what makes you think that??"

"Because isn't this guy's real name Barrett?"

"Eeto, er, no!" 

"And Mia? Who's Mia? Another one of your new friends?" Justine smirked. Riko turned off the game, even though it was a while since she last saved. "Aww, that's not very nice."

"If I beat you at Smash Bros Melee, will you stop teasing me?" Riko asked.

"Hmm, I dunno...Been a while since I played that. Sides, I enjoy teasing you."

"If you win, I'll...I'll..."

"You'll give me one of your dragons?"

"ARE YOU INSANE?!!?!?!? MAKAI IIE!!"

"Okay, how about...you do my chores?"

"Deal." The two sat down and Riko immediately chose Zelda. It was what she was best at. Justine chose Mewtwo. The fight began at Mushroom Kingdom, and Riko waited until Justine decided to power up the dark energy attack and come over to fire it at her. But she merely jumped to dodge it. Deciding it time to break out the real moves, she changed into Sheik and started to run towards Justine. 

Thinking she was going to ram her, she jumped out of the way, only to find Sheik turn back into Zelda and give her a mouth-full of Din's fire. She was then grabbed and thrown backwards, and punched off the stage by Sheik's down + A attack. 

"HAHAHA!!!! I learned from the best, Justine: My little brother!!" Riko grinned. Justine only frowned and shrugged.

"Eh, that's ok." Justine stood up and was about to leave when a thought struck her. "By the way, what are your plans for today?"

Riko scratched her temple. "I dunno. I hadn't thought about it. This is the first weekend I've ever had where I could just spend the whole day at home if I wanted to."

"Why don't you go spend time with your new friends?"

"Eh, they went camping this weekend."

"Oh, I see. Well, what do you say we become mall rats and hang out there for a while? I could show you some sights on the way."

"Sure, why not?" Riko went up stairs to change out of her pajamas. 

They first went out for breakfast, then headed towards the mall, though slowing down a little when they passed by a tourist spot. The mall was inside, and was lengthy. But for Riko, this was a good thing. It meant she could easily find any supplies she might need in the future. 

"Well, where would you like to go first?" Justine asked.

"Gee...I dunno where to start..." Riko said, looking all around her. A strange sight caught her eye for a mere instant. It was green hair. _And I thought it didn't get any more diverse than Rowen's or Sage's,_ she thought. 

"See something interesting?" Justine said, pulling Riko from her awkward gaze.

"Yeah...green hair..."

"A rarity, but not too unusual in Japan. You'll see all kinds of teenagers with dyed hair. Come on," she said as she dragged Riko to some large department store.

Riko saw the green hair again, only she got to see the person it was attached to as well. He had the strangest eyes, like a snake's, though she figured it was due to contact lenses. He looked pretty cool that way, though. He was sitting with two other guys, one with white hairand the other with blue-black hair, like Kento's, and a large scar over his eye. They really stuck out in the crowd of people. Justine caught her gaze again.

"Ahh, so that's the green haired man. I think he's a little too old for you, dear," Justine teased.

"Firstly, I thought we had a deal??"

"Gomen, couldn't help myself."

"And secondly, I have no interest like that in him. I just think he has a cool kinda style, okay!?"

"Sure, sure. You know what? I think I'll go over and talk to him, just to prove that you do like him," Justine said bravely. She took one step before Riko caught her arm.

"Are you crazy?? For all you know they could be drug addicts or some hentai peoples!!" 

"Where's the harm in talking to someone?" She said. She took another step only to see that a younger looking girl had sat down with them. Justine didn't take anymore steps. "Hmm...Sister maybe?"

Riko shrugged. "Who knows? Let's just go already." Riko hated it when people did things like this to her. She knew that if Justine went to go talk to these guys, Justine would humiliate her. It was always like that.

"What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you're embarrassing me," Riko said under her breath. Justine heard it and raised her voice.

"ME?!!?!? EMBARRASS YOU?!!?!?" Oh no...here it comes. Riko took a small glance and she saw they were looking in her general direction. Justine seemed to take notice that Riko was trying to hide her face. "Eh? What's wrong?" Riko led Justine's eyes with her own over to the staring men and young girl. She practically yelled "What are you looking at?!?!" at them and, to Riko's surprise and humor, they started looking in other directions and whistling as if they hadn't been curiously watching. Riko let out a small giggle. Justine took Riko by the shoulder with one arm. "What would you do without me?" But Riko continued to cover her face as they walked away.

"Poor kid," Kale said, looking at the two girls walking away, one of them holding their head in their hands. "Reminds me of how I feel when I'm in public with you, Sekhmet."

"Hey!!" Sekhmet growled. He was ready to launch himself at him when he realized Kale's point had been proven, and he sat down grumpily.

"Can't you guys behave for one day in the mortal realm?" Kayura sighed, shaking her head. "You're all 400 years old and you STILL haven't matured." Dais snickered. It seemed as though a day never went by that Kale didn't pick on someone, whether it was an unlucky stranger or one of them.

"Can we help it if we're cooped up in the Dynasty all the time?" Kale retorted. For a moment, Kayura considered teleporting him back to the Dynasty, but who knows what havoc he could reek with no supervision. "And we have to stay around here again, why??"

Kayura sighed heavily. He had the attention span of a fly. "I told you already, Kale. We're staying in one place because we'll have a better chance at finding the Ronins that way in a crowd as big as this."

"Oh yeah..." She knew she'd regret bringing them along. Then again, it was very boring, and they weren't exactly having much luck. Perhaps those two girls from earlier would know something...

"Stay here, I'll be right back," Kayura said. She knew if they all came with her, it would not only make a scene, but they'd screw it up somehow.

"Hey, where you going?! I wanna come too!" Kale said after her, but she didn't reply and disappeared into the crowd.

"Sumimasen," someone said from behind Riko. The two turned around to see the young girl from earlier. "Would you know a man named...eeto..." _Shimatta!_ _What's Wildfire's real name??!_

"Ryo." The girl looked behind her to see the white-haired man.

"Yes, I do."

"Do you know where he is!?" She said excitedly.

"Yeah, he and his friends went on a camping trip." The girl fell over.

"Arigato," she said, and they hurried back to the tables.

"I guess they know them..." Riko said, absentmindedly. _Must ask the guys about them..._

"Found them, they went camping," Kayura said, as soon as she reached Kale and Sekhmet.

"Where?" Kayura sweatdropped. 

"Um..."

"And here I thought Sekhmet was the dullest of us!" Kale teased. Kayura hit him upside his head.

"C'mon, we gotta find them again," Kayura said, dragging Kale by his ear.

_OW! I've gotta learn to keep my mouth shut around Kayura!_ Kale thought.

"We split up, but Kale stays with me," she glared. Kale was doing his best to keep from yelling and cursing. It was an odd spectacle.

Dais went left, Sekhmet right, and Kayura and Kale to the first floor. She kept a hand on his ear the whole time.

"Ow! Ittai!! C'mon, Kayura, that hurts!!! Leggo! Gomen, gomen, gomen!!" Kayura released her grip on him, but in he process threw him onto his knees. 

"Just keep your mouth in check," she threatened as Kale rubbed his ear.

"BAKA!!!!!" Riko cried suddenly. 

Justine jumped. "What the...?"

_What was that?_ Dais thought. Thinking it was the voice of the girl they had spoken to, he decided to follow the trail from whence it came.

"What do mean, baka?" Justine asked as she slowly followed Riko into the little playing card shop.

"BA-KA!!" She said again, jumping up and down and looking at the different sets of cards.

"There you are," came a soft voice. Riko turned around to blush at the sight of the white haired man again.

"Baka, I mean hi," she said. She blushed brighter at her stupid mistake and he laughed.

"Gomen to bother you again, but we forgot to ask where they were camping," he asked. He slightly bowed too. _Charming..._

"Well, I don't know exactly where they were going..." she explained.

"I see. Sayonara," he said. He was about to leave when he turned back around. "May I ask your name?"

"Riko..." she blurted out, without so much as a thought.

"My name is Dais," he said. He bowed his head again and disappeared into the crowd.

"Get a grip, chika, you're drooling all over the cards," Justine said, breaking her trance.

"I-I am not!!"

"No, you're right, you're drooling all over yourself."

"I did no such thiiiiiii...." Riko started to say when a certain something caught her eye. She walked, mesmerized to the sacred object picked up the dragon playing cards like a holy relic.

"Oooooo...Gimme!" Justine said as she made a grab for it. But Riko sheltered it against her chest.

"No! Sacred magic dragon cards!!" She said strangely, and she ran to purchase them. Justine shrugged and followed.

"So, what is Baka?" She asked.

Remembering why she had come into the store in the first place, Riko exclaimed "BAKA!" The cashier jumped and looked at her like she was crazy. Riko laughed and apologized.

_Weirdo..._ the cashier thought as the girl hopped away in hyperactiveness towards a table

Riko took a seat and explained that Baka, or Idiot, was a card game. They started playing and people began to watch them, some interested, other as though the two were bakas themselves.

As Dais tried to find his friends in the crowd, Sekhmet had discovered Riko, but was so engrossed in watching the game, he'd forgotten why he was looking for her in the first place. After watching a few games, he told himself he knew how to play and walked up to them.

"Mind if I join in??" He asked. They turned to him, recognizing him from earlier, and Riko turned a little red as she now noticed the crowd surrounding them.

"Sure. Figure out how to play?" Riko asked.

He nodded an affirmative and Riko dealt him in as he sat down. After a game or two, they were laughing crazily as though they had known each other all their lives. Eventually this ruckus drew the attention of Kayura and Kale.

They had to push their way through the crowd, but when they made it, Kayura's

hypothesis on the owner of one of the laughs was correct.

"Sekhmet, just what do you think you're doing??" She said loudly.

"Playing Baka, would you like to play?" He asked, knowing he was trouble major.

"Yeah, come on and play with us, Kayura!" Riko said. Kayura recognized her, but how did she know her name?

"Figures you'd be playing a game that requires bakas. It suits you, Sekhmet," Kale said. Kayura promptly hit him again. "Ittai!!"

"As a matter of fact, I think I will," she answered, taking a seat. Then she turned to Kale.. "YOU go and find Dais."

"Aww, but those are unfair odds!! Three against one!" Sekhmet complained.

"Oh shut up, we aren't even playing on teams!" Justine said. Kayura was surprised that the Warlord of Venom didn't seem to mind that this girl was being a lot like her, but without the hitting. He even laughed.

"I know, but I still feel outnumbered!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Kale muttered to him.

Sekhmet sweatdropped and quickly picked up his cards. "Uh, let's play already!" 

Instead of going off to find Dais, Kale hid in the crowd, watching and wishing he could play. Someone tapped his shoulder and low and behold, there stood Dais. Kale grinned and grabbed Dais by the wrist, dragging him towards the center of attention.

"Would you lookie who I found! Can I play now, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?!?!?" Kale asked. Dais was confused.

"It's your game, therefore your call," Kayura said to Riko.

"Sure, why not?" Sekhmet whooped.

"Yes! I'm not outnumbered anymore!"

"We weren't in teams in the first place!!" All three of them yelled.

The game of Idiot raged on for about an hour when Kayura realized how late it was getting.

"We'd better get going, we still have to find those Ronins," Kayura whispered to Dais, who had insisted he was not interested in a game he thought made you look like a fool. He nodded and stood up.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you two, but we have business to be taking care of," he said. Riko and Justine whined, Kale and Sekhmet chiming in with them.

"Just when I was winning too!" Kale grumbled. as he, too, stood.

"You were not!" Sekhmet argued.

"Were too!"

"Were not!!" They began yelling back and forth. Some of the people around them looked at them and then went about their business.

"Will the two of you just shut up?!?!" Kayura yelled above them. She was getting very pissed off, and they knew it. "Now, come on!!" She said, storming off. She stopped to say goodbye to the girls and then started off again, the other three following diligently.

"Well, that was...interesting..." Riko said.

"Yeah...So who do you think was the cutest?" Justine teased.

"Wha-? Oh stop it, you're being like my mom."

"Aww, c'mon!"

"No way, I'm not playing that game!!"

"Please! Just a hint! I'll bet it was that white-haired guy, Dais!!"

"No!!!!!!" And the argument continued until they got home where Riko locked herself in her room and went to bed.

WOW!!!! I. UPDATED!!!! It's a miracle!!! Hope you liked it!

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Words that were used:

Ittai-ow

Doyobi-Saturday

Makai/Heru-hell

Bishounen-handsome boy

Makai Iie- ? Hell no

Gomen- I'm sorry

Hentai-pervert

Sumimasen-excuse me

Eeto-um

Arigato-thank you

Baka- Idiot


	5. That was not my idea of a good vacation

Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow

By Ryoken

"Well, that weekend could've gone better," Cye thought out loud. Everything hadn't gone as planned, and they were relieved to be going home, even though the next day they had to go to school. Of course, the ride home wasn't exactly fun either, considering Rowen was continually bugging Kento, who threatened him with "Don't make me pull over this car!!"

"You're starting to sound a lot like a mom there, Kento!" Rowen teased.

"Grrrr, shut up! I'm trying to drive here!!"

"Kento, look out!!!" Cye yelled. Three yards away stood Kayura and the warlords. They didn't seem about to move out of the way either.

"Uh, shouldn't we move?" Dais asked. Kayura shook her head.

"They'll stop for us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

Kento had to slam on the breaks and swerve the van to a halt in order to miss hitting them. He almost hit two trees in the process and a large rock scraped the bumper and broke the left back blinker.

"Nice driving," Sage complimented. Kento didn't notice as he stepped out of the car, along with everyone else.

"What are you guys doing here? Trying to kill yourself or something?" Ryo asked.

"No, we came here to warn you."

"Warn us?"

"A stranger has come here to Toyama. I have sensed that this person is very powerful, but I'm unable to say whether they are on our side or not. You better watch your backs," Kayura told them.

Before the Ronins could ask another question, they went through a portal door to the Nether realm. 

"Guys, you don't think that this stranger could be...?" Cye started to say.

"It's a possibility," Sage said.

"Sage, you don't really think it's Riko, do you? She's our friend," Ryo asked. "And besides, she doesn't really seem the type."

"Think about it, Ryo. It seems she came at the same time as this 'stranger'. She's quiet and doesn't talk too much. And consider what happened at her house. I think she fits the bill pretty well," Sage answered.

"But what about this power thingy?" Kento said. "She doesn't seem to have any powers."

"Maybe she hasn't shown them yet," Rowen argued.

"I don't know...Even if she is this stranger, should we worry? She doesn't seem evil to me," Cye said.

"Why don't we wait longer before we make anymore judgments about Riko, ok?" Ryo suggested. They all agreed.

_I knew there was something odd about her..._

"Hey, Riko!!" Came a familiar voice. She turned to see Kento heading her way. She waved with a warm smile as he caught up with her. "What's up?"

"Nothing much...Oh! I met some friends of yours over the weekend. I think one of their names was Kayura-"

"K-Kayura?! You-You met Kayura!?" He sputtered.

"Eeto, yeah. She and three other people with her were looking for you guys. Are you feeling okay?"

"HAI! I'm fine! I, uh, have to go find Ryo, sayonara!" He said as he rushed into the school.

"What in the world is going on?" Riko thought out loud. She continued walking until she reached her first period class, biology. She noticed that Cye wasn't there when she came in and considered it strange. Kento couldn't have made him late since he picked him up in the morning and she had just seen him, although he had been acting strangely...Her thoughts were broken however, when he came rushing in the door as the two-minute bell rang. 

"Hello, Cye," Riko said, trying to be cheerful. He nervously turned around to give a quick 'hi', then turned back around. She frowned. Something was definitely going on and she hated to be left out, but _If they wanna tell me, then they will_, she thought.

Riko continued working and nothing was said between the two. As the bell for class to end rang, Riko hurried so that Cye couldn't ditch and leave her in the classroom alone...with the possibility of Deana coming after her. Cye seemed to distance himself from her a little as they walked. 

"Did I do something wrong, Cye?" She asked. He seemed to snap out of his "ignoring" trance.

"Huh? Iie! Not at all! Where did you get that idea?" He said.

"Well, let's see here now. Kento runs away from me when I told him I met Kayura and then you practically ignore me for a whole period. The only thing you said to me was 'hi', and even then you didn't make eye contact. How's that?"

"Good point. Gomen. We...have a lot on our minds at the moment."

"Ah, I see. I know what that's like."

"So you met Kayura?"

"Yeah. What's the big deal about her, anyhow?"

"Uh, well, we, eeto, weren't expecting you to meet her...so soon," Cye quickly added. "When?"

"Saturday, while I was at the mall. Oh yeah, did they manage to find you?"

"Uh, hai."

"Well that's good." Suddenly remembering what they had played, she started to grin slyly.

"What are you smiling about?" Cye said a little nervously.

"Hehe...baka..."

"Pardon?"

"Baka."

"Who's a baka?"

"Baka."

"You know someone named Baka and he or she is a baka?" Cye was confused.

Riko looked at him. "Baka!"

"Are you calling me a baka?"

She shook her head. "Baka!"

"Nani? You're confusing me. Please, speak English, would you?" 

Riko had a giggle-fit. "Baka is a game! We were playing it with Kayura and her friends, or whoever they were."

"You mean you met them too??" She nodded. "And you played a game with them???" She nodded again. Cye scratched his head. This was new...

"Race you to Kento!" Riko told him. He nodded as she got the head start. 

"Oi!!"

"Hey, guys. I was just, uh telling Rowen here about, uh..."

"How boring his life is," Rowen teased, quickly covering for Kento.

"Hey!!!"

"Did you guys know that Riko here met Kayura AND the others over the weekend?" Cye mentioned.

"Uh huh," They said in unison.

"And did you know they played a game called Baka?"

Kento and Rowen sweatdropped. They shook their heads.

"Yeah, it was fun!!" Riko piped in. The two kept staring in disbelief. The former warlords had played a game with HER?!?! Not to mention the title didn't exactly help the situation. "Although Dais didn't play. I dunno why, it's fun!"

"You'll have to teach us sometime," Cye said.

"Sure!!!" Riko said. As she went into the classroom to drop off her stuff, the others spoke quietly and quickly.

"Dude, what is wrong with you?! Didn't you hear what she just said?!" Kento asked.

"Just act like nothing's wrong. She's getting worried," Cye said.

"Why's that?" Rowen asked.

"She said she thought it was because of something she did that Kento went and ran away from her," Cye glared.

"I didn't know what else to do at the time, so sue me!!" Kento said, trying to defend himself.

"I'm back! Miss me??" Riko asked energetically.

"Of course!" Cye said.

The periods came and went, and except that Sage had no idea of the events that had happened with Riko or the plan to act casually and had ignored her more than usual, and everything went smoothly for once. Deana, according to gossip, had been suspended for two weeks. _Ahh, sweet sweet bully-less bliss_, Riko had thought. For her sake, she hoped her gang wouldn't gang up on her instead. 

It was lunchtime when Riko made the announcement that she finally had her stuff.

"You seem extra energetic today, Riko. You didn't eat any sugar, did you?" Rowen asked. Everyone looked at him, and hoped that she didn't say yes. They all knew how it was when someone was on a sugar high.

Riko thought for a bit. "I don't think so. Sometimes I just get crazy on me own," she joked. 

"All righty, so when do we get to see this room of yours?" Kento asked as he ate his lunch.

Riko pretended to be deep in thought. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" She asked. Then she gave him a suspicious-like, yet comical glare. He laughed.

"Well, why not? It's not all girly, is it?" He asked.

"I dunno, is it?!" She asked.

"How would he know, he's never been in your room," Cye said. "Hey, wait, what are you implying?"

"WHERE were you on the night of June 6th, 1790 c.d.?!?!" Riko asked. She gave him the strange glare again.

"Wha...what the heck does c. d. stand for??" Kento laughed.

"AH HA! So, you deny that you weren't in gymnastics yesterday at 1 am?" Riko interrogated, again with the stupid glare.

"Riko, do any of these nonsensical questions have to do with whether your room can be seen or not?" Sage asked.

"EXACTLY!!!!!!" She yelled. Everyone looked at her strangely. She turned around to face the other students. "What are you lookin at??" She imitated. They shrugged, figured Deana had made her gone insane from the fight, and went back to what they were doing.

"What have you done with our Riko?!?!" Kento asked as he playfully gripped her shoulders and shook her. She allowed her head to be shaken back and forth.

"Ittai...headrush..." She said, holding onto her head. Then she shook her head. 

"So anyway...could we?" Kento asked again.

"Well..." Riko seriously thought. _Do I really want these guys to be in a girl's room, not to mention mine?_ She sighed. "I don't suppose it could hurt."

"Cool. When?"

"Uh, tomorrow, I guess."

The bell rang conveniently. 

************************************************************************

This one was a little shorter than the others, I think. But I thought I'd just leave ya hanging for a little while longer. If yas wants another update, hit the review button and give me praise! Cause I'm a "kool writer" *sniff* 

Translations-

Eeto-um

Hai-yes

Sayonara-goodbye

Iie- No

Gomen-I'm sorry

Baka-idiot

Nani-what?

Oi- Hey

Ittai-Ow


End file.
